


An Encounter

by shadoedseptmbr



Series: Tales from the Shelterverse [18]
Category: Dragon Age - All Media Types
Genre: F/M, Fluff, OC, Post-Game(s)
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-02-23
Updated: 2021-02-23
Packaged: 2021-03-14 04:22:19
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,015
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/29661702
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/shadoedseptmbr/pseuds/shadoedseptmbr
Summary: Aeryn Hawke and Sebastian Vael encounter a new friend on their trek to Starkhaven.
Relationships: Female Hawke/Sebastian Vael
Series: Tales from the Shelterverse [18]
Series URL: https://archiveofourown.org/series/21436
Kudos: 2





	An Encounter

Sebastian noticed the child first, tucked in a ball with her knees beneath her chin, under an overturned wagon that had landed in what had once been a pretty, if tiny, garden. Huge, amber brown eyes wide with fright set in her little round, brown face like jewels peered out from the shadows. He knelt down, careful to avoid the broken glass of the nearby shop’s window and held out his hand. “Here, lass, let me help you.”

“Ev'ry one was fighting.”

“I know. But it’s over, now and safe. Do you know where your mum or da might be?”

“Mum…she was in our store. Da’s gone to Starkhaven to pick up supplies. I was playing in the garden. I- I was good. I didn’t leave the gate…but the fence is all gone!” The child sounded not a little indignant.

“Imagine that. Silly old fence, just up and running off!” Aeryn had come up behind him and was sitting on her heels, now, with a sympathetic grin on her face.

Encouraged by two friendly looking faces, the little girl- she couldn’t be more than five, Sebastian thought- started to crawl out from the shelter of the wagon.

“Oh, wait.” Aeryn cautioned and he recalled the shattered glass.

“Allow me.” Sebastian pulled off the cloak he’d been wearing- sorry sight though it was now, torn and dirty from the brawl- and laid it across the jagged glass. “Carefully, now.”

The girl giggled. “Ooh, like a prince in a story!” As she took his hands to balance, out of the corner of his eye he saw Aeryn stifle a chortle.

“Almost exactly like.” She agreed with a wicked slant to her smile and he rolled his eyes at her mild jape.

“At your service, m'lady.” Sebastian stood and swung the child over the last of the dangerous ground, making her giggle again, delightedly. “Now, let’s find your mum, before she worries.”

“What’s your name, pup?”

“I’m not a puppy! I’m Betta!” Betta had freckles across the flat of her cheekbones, he noted as he gently brushed some debris from her tight, dark braids.

Aeryn cocked her head and dropped an apologetic curtsy. “Oh, you’ll have to excuse me, Mistress Betta. Where I’m from we call most small folk ‘pup.’”

“But what do you call real puppies?” she asked Aeryn curiously.

“Oh, they’re pups, too. They just all roll about together in piles in the mud and we don’t bother to separate them out until they’re bigger and can tell us their names.” That set Betta laughing again, chasing away the last of her fright.

Sebastian was glad to have Aeryn along to distract Betta. Her mother’s shop was half smashed in from a mis-thrown boulder. He went to pick his way gingerly through what had been the front door when Betta piped up, “Mum just went cross the way to d'liver something to Sister Ginna, serah. Before all the fighting.”

He exchanged a glance with Aeryn. _Thank the Maker._

“Come along. She’s probably half frantic.” Betta took his offered hand again and then snagged Aeryn by hers, half dragging them towards the small stone Chantry, set off the small village square. The child’s hand was warm and delicate, if a bit sticky, in his own. Sebastian couldn’t help but sneak another look at Aeryn. Her eyes were on their destination, but she was letting Betta swing their hands between them as they walked, measuring their steps to her short legs.

There was a bit of a crush around the Chantry, all the townsfolk gathered to exchange news of the bandits’ bold attack and to assess damages, as well as looking for lost loved ones. Sebastian paused and then picked Betta up, swinging her sturdy frame to perch on his shoulder. “Now, do you see your mum, then?”

She swiveled and he shifted his feet to make himself a steady mount. “There! Mum! _Mummmiiieeee!_ ”

At her shrill cry, a tall woman with intricately braided and coiled hair swung around, pushing past a knot of villagers. A bandage across her high forehead and a new sling holding her arm immobile showed why the woman hadn’t retrieved her child immediately. "Betta? Oh, sweetling, thank holy Andraste!”

Aeryn caught the girl when she tried to leap from Sebastian’s shoulder, steadied her and then released her to her mothers tight embrace. Relieved tears filled a fine set of large sweet brown eyes that were a near match to Betta’s “Thank you. How can I _ever_ …”

“It’s fine, Mistress. We’re just glad to help you find each other.”

After making sure the two had a place other than the destroyed shop to go, Sebastian watched them walk off, Betta clinging to her mother’s dusty skirt as the woman held her hand tightly. He felt Aeryn’s warm presence at his side and tugged her close for a minute, resisting the urge to kiss her in the midst of the Chantry.

“Betta’s a pretty name.” Aeryn looked up at him with something soft in her pale eyes. “And she looked sweet up there on your shoulders. Looked…right, somehow.”

The crowd seemed to fade a bit as Sebastian placed the softness. Wistfulness, really. “She looked sweet holding your hand, too, _leannan_.” He said, quietly.

“I’d forgotten- how small their hands are at that age.” She wiggled her own slim fingers. “I think she had jam for lunch, though.”

“A bit sticky, yes.” He agreed, looking back to see the two disappear around the corner.

“Hey.” Aeryn turned into him and set her hand against his heart, gazing up at him. “We are going to fix this mess. Set everything to rights. And then…” she swallowed, “then, love, it’ll be our turn.”

“Someday,” he agreed, wanly. It seemed rather far off, just now, if he was honest.

Her clear gaze turned fierce at his tone. “Someday _soon_. I want to meet your child, Sebastian Vael.”

He had to kiss her then, regardless of the observers around them. “Our child,” he whispered against her lips like a vow.

“Ours,” she agreed and kissed him again.


End file.
